WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.360 Hi, well, welcome back to the Kingdom Reformation course. 2 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:15.720 This is class number three, and the title of the class is The Kingdom of God on Earth. 3 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:21.680 So just a quick review from class number two, the last time we talked about God's big kingdom 4 00:00:21.680 --> 00:00:22.680 story. 5 00:00:22.680 --> 00:00:26.840 So we kind of gave an overview of the seven main chapters, if you will, in God's storyline 6 00:00:26.840 --> 00:00:27.840 for planet Earth. 7 00:00:27.840 --> 00:00:33.440 And again, this is just my breakdown of these kind of seven significant points I felt like. 8 00:00:33.440 --> 00:00:37.680 First of all, God is the eternal king who made the Earth and then gave man dominion 9 00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:38.680 over it. 10 00:00:38.680 --> 00:00:45.200 Next, man sinned and brought his domain, including the Earth, under the dominion of Satan. 11 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:50.560 Third is God began the recovery of Earth in covenant with various human agencies, and 12 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.360 we talked about Noah and Abraham and Israel. 13 00:00:54.360 --> 00:01:00.280 Then fourth, Jesus won back the dominion and redeemed man to his place of reigning on the 14 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:01.280 Earth. 15 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:07.000 Fifth, Jesus ascended to a throne at the right hand of the father where he now reigns as 16 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:08.640 the king of kings. 17 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:13.880 And again, Revelation 1.4 says he is, not will be, but is the ruler over the kings of 18 00:01:13.880 --> 00:01:14.880 the Earth. 19 00:01:14.880 --> 00:01:21.240 Sixth, his government or his reign is being extended on the Earth in and through his church, 20 00:01:21.240 --> 00:01:22.240 his body. 21 00:01:22.240 --> 00:01:27.560 And again, the Ephesians 1.22 passage, it says that he, the father, gave him Jesus as 22 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:31.720 head over all things to the church, which is his body. 23 00:01:31.720 --> 00:01:36.720 It didn't say he gave him as personal savior to the church, although he did, but he gave 24 00:01:36.720 --> 00:01:41.480 him as head over all things to the ecclesia, his body on Earth. 25 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:46.600 And then finally, Jesus will return to Earth to judge the living and the dead, to destroy 26 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:52.520 the last enemy, which is death, and interestingly, to hand the kingdom back to the father. 27 00:01:52.520 --> 00:01:58.200 And we talked about 1 Corinthians 15, verse 24, where it specifically says that. 28 00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:04.000 So in this session, we want to zoom in now on the part of the story that we find ourselves 29 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.800 in, which would be chapter six of the seven that I just mentioned. 30 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:15.120 But specifically, the point in time where Jesus is reigning from his throne in heaven 31 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:17.040 through his body on Earth, the church. 32 00:02:17.040 --> 00:02:21.400 Like what on Earth is God doing in these days? 33 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:27.520 So the first point I want to make here is that God's kingdom truly has come to Earth. 34 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:33.160 And that might seem simplistic and obvious, but there's a lot of confusion when people 35 00:02:33.160 --> 00:02:34.440 think about the kingdom of God. 36 00:02:34.440 --> 00:02:35.960 Is it something that's coming? 37 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:37.080 Is it just spiritual? 38 00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:38.080 Is it ethereal? 39 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:42.440 And what I want to point out here by looking at several scriptures is it's come to Earth 40 00:02:42.440 --> 00:02:45.200 in a very significant and a real way. 41 00:02:45.200 --> 00:02:51.380 So this is not just a spiritual kingdom, which humans escape Earth life to enter into. 42 00:02:51.380 --> 00:02:56.280 It's not just a future reality that begins at Christ's return, but it's very present. 43 00:02:56.280 --> 00:03:00.760 And it's not our modern church orbit, which sometimes we can confuse with the kingdom 44 00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:06.800 of God, which tries to coexist with minimal engagement in the world's problems. 45 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:08.640 It's also not a physical kingdom. 46 00:03:08.640 --> 00:03:13.480 There's no place you can go and find the throne on Earth, and you can't go to a castle. 47 00:03:13.480 --> 00:03:16.560 So it's not of this world, as Jesus said. 48 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:19.760 My kingdom is not of this world, but it's very much in this world. 49 00:03:19.760 --> 00:03:23.880 And it's referred to several times through scripture as a kingdom that's been planted 50 00:03:23.880 --> 00:03:24.960 in the Earth. 51 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:27.560 So there's a very close engagement with Earth life. 52 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:29.760 It's not separated from Earth life. 53 00:03:29.760 --> 00:03:33.520 And that's what we're going to talk about as this course builds out. 54 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:37.080 So I want to look at a few scriptures just to validate this, that the kingdom really 55 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:38.080 came to Earth. 56 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:42.240 First of all, we have in Matthew 3, John the Baptist preaching. 57 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:44.560 He was the transitional prophet. 58 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:48.360 And John, who Jesus said, if you could receive it, actually was Elijah. 59 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:49.600 Jesus said that. 60 00:03:49.600 --> 00:03:56.160 But it says in Matthew 3, 1 and 2, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching saying, 61 00:03:56.160 --> 00:03:59.140 repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 62 00:03:59.140 --> 00:04:00.720 That means it's right here. 63 00:04:00.720 --> 00:04:02.920 It's about to be seized upon. 64 00:04:02.920 --> 00:04:08.040 Later on in Matthew 4, it says, and this is Jesus now, it says, from that time, and the 65 00:04:08.040 --> 00:04:12.960 time being referred to there is when John the Baptist was imprisoned, then Jesus began 66 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:17.000 to preach and say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 67 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:21.480 And I just want to point out that word repent there, we in Christian circles sometimes can 68 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:24.960 limit the meaning of that word as be sorry for your sins. 69 00:04:24.960 --> 00:04:27.760 And really what the word means is shift the way you think. 70 00:04:27.760 --> 00:04:29.640 It's a mind shift change. 71 00:04:29.640 --> 00:04:34.160 And certainly the people that John or Jesus would have been preaching to, these were the 72 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.880 Jews, they had a certain mindset about what the kingdom of God would look like. 73 00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:43.800 And they really were looking for a literal throne on earth where Jesus would overthrow 74 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:47.160 the Roman armies, and et cetera. 75 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:51.040 So when John came in the wilderness, and then Jesus followed up saying, guys, you've got 76 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:52.600 to change your mind. 77 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:55.740 You've got to get a new mindset on what the kingdom is. 78 00:04:55.740 --> 00:04:59.920 Because then John the Baptist points at this man walking, you know, along the path. 79 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:03.360 banks of the water from this Galilean and say, there he is, 80 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:05.360 that the kingdom of heaven is in that guy. 81 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:06.840 That's the Lamb of God. 82 00:05:06.840 --> 00:05:11.160 So this really was a mind shift for those people. 83 00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:14.440 But they did say specifically the kingdom was at hand. 84 00:05:14.440 --> 00:05:17.440 One of the best chapters about this kingdom invasion 85 00:05:17.440 --> 00:05:20.220 into planet Earth is Daniel chapter 2. 86 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:22.920 And this is where Nebuchadnezzar has the vision of the statue. 87 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:25.240 And I won't go into the details of that now, 88 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:27.560 but it's a great chapter to read on your own. 89 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:29.640 But there's a verse 44 that says, 90 00:05:29.640 --> 00:05:31.840 in the days of these kings, and he's 91 00:05:31.840 --> 00:05:33.760 referring to the time of the Roman Empire. 92 00:05:33.760 --> 00:05:35.880 Theologians agree that that's what that's about. 93 00:05:35.880 --> 00:05:39.560 But in the days of these kings, the God of heaven 94 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:42.880 will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. 95 00:05:42.880 --> 00:05:44.640 We're talking about on Earth. 96 00:05:44.640 --> 00:05:46.480 We're talking about the kingdoms of men. 97 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:49.160 And that chapter outlines prophetically 98 00:05:49.160 --> 00:05:52.080 the various empires and main kingdoms 99 00:05:52.080 --> 00:05:54.780 that were governing the Earth until the time of the Roman 100 00:05:54.780 --> 00:05:55.280 Empire. 101 00:05:55.280 --> 00:05:56.840 It says, in the days of these kings, 102 00:05:56.840 --> 00:05:59.120 in the days of the Roman Empire, God of heaven 103 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:00.440 will set up a kingdom. 104 00:06:00.440 --> 00:06:01.700 That's on Earth. 105 00:06:01.700 --> 00:06:04.680 And that's that stone that was cut not with human hands. 106 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:08.560 It came crashing into that statue and obliterated it. 107 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:11.440 So that's the point we wanted to make first, is God's kingdom. 108 00:06:11.440 --> 00:06:14.540 It's a real kingdom that's really come to Earth. 109 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:17.660 Secondly, it's an ever-increasing victorious 110 00:06:17.660 --> 00:06:20.200 kingdom, which you're not going to like this, some of you, 111 00:06:20.200 --> 00:06:23.200 but which destroys all other kingdoms. 112 00:06:23.200 --> 00:06:25.160 So this clash of kingdoms on Earth 113 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:29.560 is not over primarily where the Earth people go after they die. 114 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:30.960 That's not what the kingdom of God 115 00:06:30.960 --> 00:06:34.200 is only or primarily even concerned with. 116 00:06:34.200 --> 00:06:35.800 But it has to do with how the Earth is 117 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:37.160 governed and taken care of. 118 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:39.760 Remember, the Earth was given to man from the beginning. 119 00:06:39.760 --> 00:06:42.240 This was Adam's charge. 120 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:43.880 And God has never revoked that. 121 00:06:43.880 --> 00:06:47.280 And you can look at Psalm 8, which reinforces that. 122 00:06:47.280 --> 00:06:49.240 The foundations of the throne of this kingdom 123 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:50.680 are righteousness and justice. 124 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:51.640 That's on Earth. 125 00:06:51.640 --> 00:06:54.000 God really cares about justice on Earth. 126 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:58.360 And the kingdom of God is to be all about that engagement. 127 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:00.840 The kingdom is very engaged in Earth life. 128 00:07:00.840 --> 00:07:03.600 That's why Jesus, when he's describing our role, 129 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:08.040 talks about things like us being salt and light and leaven. 130 00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:10.920 These are things that impact life on the Earth. 131 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:14.840 So again, this is not a kingdom whose ambition 132 00:07:14.840 --> 00:07:17.760 is to coexist with earthly empires, 133 00:07:17.760 --> 00:07:19.840 but actually has every intention and the destiny 134 00:07:19.840 --> 00:07:22.240 to utterly destroy and remove them all. 135 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:26.520 So Isaiah 9, 6 and 7, you know, for unto us a child is born, 136 00:07:26.520 --> 00:07:29.320 son is given, and the government will rest upon his shoulder. 137 00:07:29.320 --> 00:07:32.520 And it says, of the increase of his government and peace, 138 00:07:32.520 --> 00:07:33.400 there will be no end. 139 00:07:33.400 --> 00:07:36.120 That means once that child is born, once this kingdom, 140 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:37.880 once this stone cut not with human hands 141 00:07:37.880 --> 00:07:41.600 comes to planet Earth, it will never stop increasing. 142 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:44.720 But it'll put an end to every other kingdom. 143 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:47.560 So of the increase of his government and peace, 144 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:48.400 there will be no end. 145 00:07:48.400 --> 00:07:53.360 Order it and establish it with judgment and justice. 146 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:54.440 There is that justice again. 147 00:07:54.440 --> 00:07:57.120 From that time forward, even forever. 148 00:07:57.120 --> 00:07:59.400 And then as if that wasn't enough, 149 00:07:59.400 --> 00:08:02.640 God underwrites it by saying, the zeal of the Lord of hosts 150 00:08:02.640 --> 00:08:03.840 will perform this. 151 00:08:03.840 --> 00:08:07.720 That's how serious God is about this takeover on planet Earth. 152 00:08:07.720 --> 00:08:11.160 So again, Daniel chapter 2, this is 153 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:14.000 where Daniel's recounting the dream to Nebuchadnezzar. 154 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.120 And he says, you watched while a stone was cut out 155 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:22.440 without hands, which struck the image on the feet of iron 156 00:08:22.440 --> 00:08:24.760 and clay and broke them in pieces. 157 00:08:24.760 --> 00:08:28.360 And it goes on to say, so that no trace of them was found. 158 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:31.520 And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain 159 00:08:31.520 --> 00:08:33.559 and filled the whole Earth. 160 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:34.799 This is the kingdom of God. 161 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:39.600 Later in verse 44, when Daniel's interpreting the dream, 162 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:40.880 again, we talked about it. 163 00:08:40.880 --> 00:08:42.960 In the days of these kings of the Roman Empire, 164 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:44.840 the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which 165 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:46.480 will never be destroyed. 166 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:49.480 And the kingdom shall not be left to another people. 167 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:51.760 And get this, it shall break in pieces 168 00:08:51.760 --> 00:08:54.240 and consume all these kingdoms. 169 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:56.600 And it shall stand forever. 170 00:08:56.600 --> 00:08:59.640 So I just would pose the question to you, 171 00:08:59.640 --> 00:09:01.800 where's the Roman Empire today? 172 00:09:01.800 --> 00:09:04.000 It was crushed and put an end to. 173 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:05.360 I want to ask another question. 174 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:07.240 What will happen to communism? 175 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:09.760 I have a theory that communism will be obliterated 176 00:09:09.760 --> 00:09:10.880 from the face of the Earth. 177 00:09:10.880 --> 00:09:14.240 And the reason for this is because the ways that 178 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:17.360 come with God's kingdom bring justice and freedom. 179 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:20.760 And once the Earth people taste freedom and justice, 180 00:09:20.760 --> 00:09:23.480 they will throw these other ideologies off. 181 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:26.840 This is partially how the kingdom takes over and puts 182 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:29.520 an end to the other kingdoms on Earth. 183 00:09:29.520 --> 00:09:32.280 Thirdly, so we talked about the kingdom of God 184 00:09:32.280 --> 00:09:33.760 really came to Earth. 185 00:09:33.760 --> 00:09:37.160 Secondly, that it is ever increasing 186 00:09:37.160 --> 00:09:40.400 and it does destroy and put an end to the other kingdoms. 187 00:09:40.400 --> 00:09:42.600 So it's a violent thing, but it's not 188 00:09:42.640 --> 00:09:44.040 done with swords and spears. 189 00:09:44.040 --> 00:09:46.760 And this is not the Crusades, right? 190 00:09:46.760 --> 00:09:48.000 It's really the ways of God. 191 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.480 It's the presence of God, the ways of God 192 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:52.720 that are far superior. 193 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:56.680 And God really cares about how people live on planet Earth. 194 00:09:56.680 --> 00:09:58.160 So the third point I want to make 195 00:09:58.160 --> 00:10:01.560 is it will completely fill the Earth. 196 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:07.360 earth. This kingdom, this little stone that came, in fact that's what it says in Daniel 2, verse 35, 197 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:12.880 back to the stone that came crashing into earth, it says, "...and the stone that struck the image 198 00:10:12.880 --> 00:10:19.040 became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." So what started back then in the days 199 00:10:19.040 --> 00:10:24.480 of the Roman Empire, and it started with a small group of people in this faraway land, 200 00:10:24.800 --> 00:10:31.360 we call the Holy Land today, has been spreading and it will ultimately become a great mountain 201 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:39.360 that fills the whole earth. It is written. So Matthew 13, 33, so this is another example of 202 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:46.480 how this all-encompassing filling of the earth will take place. So this is Jesus' parables. 203 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:50.640 Another parable, he spoke to them and he said, "...the kingdom of heaven is like leaven," 204 00:10:50.640 --> 00:10:57.040 and that's yeast, "...which a woman," or a man, "...took and hid in three measures of meal until 205 00:10:57.040 --> 00:11:01.440 it was all leavened." So you put this leaven, this yeast inside of a loaf, if you've ever worked and 206 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:07.040 made pizza dough, I haven't done it but I've watched people do it, and when it sits it doesn't 207 00:11:07.040 --> 00:11:12.320 just cause one little lump over here or one little bump over there, it actually causes the whole 208 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:16.960 thing to rise up. And this is what Jesus, talking about the kingdom on earth, he said this is the 209 00:11:17.040 --> 00:11:23.040 impact that this will have on the earth. And it says, "...until it all was leavened," so until 210 00:11:23.040 --> 00:11:29.120 the whole loaf rises. So again, I would ask you, are we done yet? Has the kingdom filled the earth 211 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:36.000 yet? Has the leaven of the kingdom of God penetrated and affected and transformed the 212 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:43.680 whole earth? Because it is going to. Isaiah 61, 11, I love this passage. So this is right after 213 00:11:43.680 --> 00:11:47.280 the part, you know, it starts off with, "...the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed 214 00:11:47.280 --> 00:11:52.640 me to preach good news." And it goes on, you know, and Jesus actually, in Luke 4, actually quoted 215 00:11:52.640 --> 00:11:57.840 this Isaiah 61. He read that part of the scroll when he was describing the works that he did. 216 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:04.800 But it goes on to say, it talks about these redeemed people that received this ministry 217 00:12:04.800 --> 00:12:09.280 of Jesus. It goes on to say, "...they shall be called the oaks of righteousness, the planting 218 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:15.840 of the Lord, and that they shall restore the ancient ruins." They will repair the ruined cities. 219 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:24.240 And if you continue reading in Isaiah 61, it ends up with this kind of final crescendo. It says, 220 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:30.480 "...for as the earth brings forth its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it 221 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:36.320 to spring forth," now listen to this, "...so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise 222 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:41.600 to spring forth before all nations." Now most people today, most Christians today, 223 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:45.840 don't have a vision for this because of some of the end times teaching that we've gotten. 224 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:50.720 But when people ask me, or they'll question me and say, why do you not think we're in the end? 225 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:55.680 And I'll just simply say, things aren't good enough yet. And I'm not talking about Apollyanna, 226 00:12:55.680 --> 00:13:00.480 you know, false hope. I'm just saying, the Lord God is going to cause righteousness and praise 227 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:05.600 to spring forth before all the nations. There's coming a time when everybody on this planet will 228 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:09.600 hear the sound of praises in the street. It doesn't mean everybody's going to receive Jesus. 229 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:13.200 It doesn't mean everyone will be a Christian. It doesn't mean everyone will enter into the 230 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:18.560 kingdom by new birth. But I would contend, based on scripture, that the manifestation 231 00:13:18.560 --> 00:13:23.920 and the benefits of the kingdom of God will be worldwide. And by the time Jesus returns, 232 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:29.120 for the people that haven't, at that point in time, actually bowed their knee to Him because 233 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:33.840 of His goodness being manifest throughout the earth, there's nothing left for them but to be 234 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:38.560 removed. And that's the tares being removed at the end of the parable of the wheat and the tares. 235 00:13:38.560 --> 00:13:43.120 So again, the Lord will cause this righteousness and praise to spring forth. And it'll happen 236 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:48.800 because the people of God, the redeemed people of God, will be about that Isaiah 61 commission, 237 00:13:48.800 --> 00:13:54.000 which is all about transformation on the earth. This is why I say that we are in the beginnings, 238 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:00.480 I believe, of a kingship reformation when the body of Christ are going to rediscover our place, 239 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:05.200 not as escapees from the planet, not even as rescuers of others from the planet, 240 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:10.560 but transformers of the planet. And we first need to have our minds renewed so that we be 241 00:14:10.560 --> 00:14:16.480 transformed. And then as we go about even our daily lives, we have this intentionality that 242 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:20.800 the kingdom of God is spreading like leaven through the way we converse with people, 243 00:14:20.800 --> 00:14:26.000 through the way we do our jobs, through every transaction that we do on earth with faith. 244 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:31.040 We actually believe that we're part of this victorious kingdom, this ever-increasing kingdom. 245 00:14:31.040 --> 00:14:35.520 We're not on the decline. We're not being beat up or taken over by the antichrist. 246 00:14:35.520 --> 00:14:40.800 We're going through a season right now, but I believe it's the most exciting time to be alive. 247 00:14:41.520 --> 00:14:48.240 So one final scripture I want to leave you with along these lines of the kingdom filling the 248 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:52.080 earth. There's a couple of times in scripture where it says the glory of the Lord will cover 249 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:58.400 the earth. And what I love is Numbers 14.21. And so the context here is this is where the children 250 00:14:58.400 --> 00:14:59.920 of Israel... 251 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:07.000 They bought into the report of the ten spies, the evil report is what the Lord called it, 252 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:11.760 that the twelve went in to spy the land and the ten came back and they said, yeah, it 253 00:15:11.760 --> 00:15:16.600 is a really good land, but man, there's giants there, and basically they put fear in the 254 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:21.240 people, whereas Joshua and Caleb said, yeah, they're giants, but that's our food, that's 255 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:23.000 what we eat. 256 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:27.040 Lord said it is ours and we're going to go in, but they refused to. 257 00:15:27.040 --> 00:15:33.260 And so God was not very happy with them, and it's just an interesting time when Moses actually 258 00:15:33.260 --> 00:15:37.760 interceded and pled for the people, because God was going to wipe them out, it's kind 259 00:15:37.760 --> 00:15:43.760 of hard to believe, but Moses interceded and he said, Lord, pardon them for your namesake. 260 00:15:43.760 --> 00:15:47.940 And the Lord said something really interesting, he said, first of all, I have pardoned them 261 00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:49.600 according to your word, Moses. 262 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:53.740 Wouldn't you want to be that kind of a friend of God that you actually consult with him 263 00:15:53.740 --> 00:15:55.840 over the destiny of the people of the earth? 264 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:58.560 I think that's what he's calling us to, frankly. 265 00:15:58.560 --> 00:16:02.620 But then the Lord makes a statement in verse 21, this is God speaking, this just blows 266 00:16:02.620 --> 00:16:10.480 my mind, but he says, but truly as I live, okay, as the creator, as the majestic one, 267 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:16.040 as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. 268 00:16:16.040 --> 00:16:20.880 The reason that jumped out at me is he says it in the context of these human beings, the 269 00:16:20.880 --> 00:16:27.560 people of Israel, refusing to go into the promised land and believe him for the promises. 270 00:16:27.560 --> 00:16:32.880 And so the implication here is that God intends to fill the earth with his glory, not apart 271 00:16:32.880 --> 00:16:38.680 from humans, but through human beings in covenant with himself. 272 00:16:38.680 --> 00:16:43.820 Psalms 8 actually says, it talks about the incredible dignity of man, it says, Lord, 273 00:16:43.820 --> 00:16:49.640 it says God crowned man with glory and majesty and made him to rule over the works of his 274 00:16:49.640 --> 00:16:52.700 hands and put all things under his feet. 275 00:16:52.700 --> 00:16:58.120 He fully intends for us wearing a crown of glory that's his glory to go into all this 276 00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:02.840 earth, to go into our promised land, and that's the way this earth is going to be filled with 277 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:04.480 the glory of the Lord. 278 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:08.079 So thanks for listening along and watching along. 279 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:12.520 I hope you'll look these scriptures up and spend time meditating on them, and we will 280 00:17:12.520 --> 00:17:15.119 see you next time around. 281 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:15.760 Thank you very much.